High-affinity and soluble PDL-1 molecule

ABSTRACT

Provided in the present invention is a PDL-1 molecule. The affinity of the PDL-1 molecule to the PD-1 molecule is at least two times the affinity of the wild-type PDL-1 molecule to the PD-1 molecule. Meanwhile, the PDL-1 molecule of the present invention can effectively improve the killing efficiency of lymphocytes. In addition, the present invention also provides nucleic acids encoding the PDL-1 molecule of the present invention, and a complex of the PDL-1 molecules of the present invention. The PDL-1 molecule of the present invention may be used alone or in combination with other molecules.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a national phase application under 35 U.S.C. 371 claiming priority to PCT/CN2016/101597, filed Oct. 9, 2016, which application claims priority to CN 201510653647.9, filed Oct. 10, 2015, the teachings of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties for all purposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to the field of biotechnology. More specifically, the present invention relates to a soluble Programmed Death Ligand-1 (PDL-1) molecule with high affinity towards Programmed Death-1 (PD-1) molecule, and preparation method and use thereof.

BACKGROUND TECHNIQUE

PD-1 is an immuno-inhibitory receptor expressed on activated T cells and B cells. PDL-1 is a ligand for PD-1 and belongs to the B7 family. PDL-1 has IgV and IgC-like domain, transmembrane domain and cytoplasmic tail domain. PDL-1 interacts with receptor PD-1 on lymphocytes and plays an important role in the negative regulation of immune responses. Many tumor cell lines and tumor cells highly express PDL-1 molecules (Konishi J et al., Clin. Cancer Res., 2004, 10(15): 5094-5100), which bind to PD-1 molecules on the surface of lymphocytes and weaken the anti-tumor immune response of body (Radziewicz H et al., J Virol, 2007, 81(6): 2545-2553), thereby resulting in occurrence of tumor immune escape. It is found in the study that, nearly half of CD8+ T cells infiltrating into tumors express PD-1 molecules in cervical cancer and liver cancer. The binding of PD-1 molecule to PDL-1 expressed by tumor cells may lead to depletion and apoptosis of CTL cells (Dong H et al., J Mol Med (Berl), 2003, 81(5):281-287; Karim R et al., Clin Cancer Res, 2009, 15(20): 6341-6347; Zhao Q et al., Eur J Immunol, 2011, 41(8):2314-2322).

For the tumor immune escape problem mentioned above, blocking interaction between PD-1 on the surface of lymphocytes and PDL-1 on the surface of tumor cells can increase the immunity of lymphocytes, and thus help to clear tumor cells by the immune system. A lot of researches have been done focusing on this problem. T. Nomi et al. (Clin. Cancer Res. 13:2151-2157 (2007)) demonstrated the therapeutic efficacy of blocking the interaction of PD-1 with PDL-1 in a mouse model of invasive pancreatic cancer. The skilled in the art are dedicated to studying the interaction between PDL-1 and PD-1 in order to find an effective way to increase the killing capacity of lymphocytes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide a PDL-1 molecule having a high affinity for PD-1 molecules.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a preparation method and use of the PDL-1 molecule with high affinity mentioned above.

In the first aspect of the present invention, it provides a PDL-1 molecule which contains a mutation in the amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 1.

In another preferred embodiment, the amino acid sequence of the PDL-1 molecule is based on the amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO.:1, and a mutation in one or more amino acid residues or insertion of an amino acid residue is performed on the amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 1 to obtain the PDL-1 molecule.

In another preferred embodiment, the amino acid sequence of the PDL-1 molecule has at least 90% (preferably, at least 92%; and more preferably, at least 94%) sequence identity with the amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 1.

In another preferred embodiment, the affinity of the PDL-1 molecule to the PD-1 molecule is at least 2 folds; preferably, at least 5 folds; more preferably, at least 10 folds; most preferably, at least 50 folds of the affinity of the wild-type PDL-1 molecule to the PD-1 molecule.

In another preferred embodiment, the affinity of the PDL-1 molecule to the PD-1 molecule is at least 100 folds; preferably, at least 200 folds; and more preferably, at least 500 folds of the affinity of the wild-type PDL-1 molecule to the PD-1 molecule.

In another preferred embodiment, the mutated amino acid residue site in the PDL-1 molecule is one or more amino acid residues in position 1 to 3, 35 to 50, and/or 95 to 105, wherein the amino acid residue numbering is based on the number shown in SEQ ID NO: 1.

In another preferred embodiment, the mutated amino acid residue site in the PDL-1 molecule is one or more amino acid residues in position 1, 36-40, 47-48, and/or 95-101, wherein the amino acid residue numbering is based on the number shown in SEQ ID NO: 1.

In another preferred embodiment, the number of mutated amino acid residue sites is n, wherein 1≤n≤15; preferably, 3≤n≤11; more preferably, 4≤n≤10, such as n can be 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. In another preferred embodiment, the mutated amino acid residue site in the PDL-1 molecule includes one or more mutations of 1F, 36I, 38Y, 40E, 47I, 48Q, 95R, 97M, 99S, 101G, or an addition of one or more amino acids after 102G, wherein the amino acid residue numbering is based on the number shown in SEQ ID NO: 1.

In another preferred embodiment, the mutated amino acid residue sites in the PDL-1 molecule include 36I, 38Y, and 40E, wherein the amino acid residue numbering is based on the number shown in SEQ ID NO: 1.

In another preferred embodiment, the mutated amino acid residue sites in the PDL-1 molecule include 40E, and 47I, wherein the amino acid residue numbering is based on the number shown in SEQ ID NO: 1.

In another preferred embodiment, the mutated amino acid residue sites in the PDL-1 molecule include 95R, and 97M, wherein the amino acid residue numbering is based on the number shown in SEQ ID NO: 1.

In another preferred embodiment, the mutated PDL-1 molecule includes one or more amino acid residues selected from the group consisting of: 1W; 36Q, 36E, 36T, or 36N; 38F, 38N, 38H, or 38A; 40M, 40F, 40L, 40W or 40Y; 47L, 47V, 47F, 47S, 47Y, 47P or 47A; 48S; 95T, 95V or 95L; 97L; 99G or 99A; 101D, 101K, 101E or 101H; amino acid G inserted after 102G; wherein the amino acid residue numbering is based on the number shown in SEQ ID NO: 1.

In another preferred embodiment, the PDL-1 molecule includes: 36Q, 38H, and 40F; or

36E, 38H, and 40F; or

36Q, 38F, and 40M; or

36Q, 38F, and 40M, wherein the amino acid residue numbering is based on the number shown in SEQ ID NO: 1.

In another preferred embodiment, the PDL-1 molecule further includes: 48S, wherein the amino acid residue numbering is based on the number shown in SEQ ID NO: 1.

In another preferred embodiment, the PDL-1 molecule further includes: 47V, and 48S; or

47F, and 48S, wherein the amino acid residue numbering is based on the number shown in SEQ ID NO: 1.

In another preferred embodiment, the PDL-1 molecule further includes: 97L, wherein the amino acid residue numbering is based on the number shown in SEQ ID NO: 1.

In another preferred embodiment, the PDL-1 molecule further includes: 95T, 97L, 99G and 101K; or

95V, 97L, 99A, and 101K, wherein the amino acid residue numbering is based on the number shown in SEQ ID NO: 1.

In another preferred embodiment, the amino acid sequence of the PDL-1 molecule is selected from one of SEQ ID NOs: 5-34.

In another preferred embodiment, the PDL-1 molecule is soluble.

In another preferred embodiment, the C or N-terminus of the PDL-1 molecule has a conjugate.

In another preferred embodiment, the conjugate bound to the PDL-1 molecule is a T cell receptor, preferably, the T cell receptor is a high affinity T cell receptor.

In the second aspect of the present invention, a fusion protein is provided, wherein the fusion protein includes the PDL-1 molecule of the first aspect of the present invention.

In another preferred embodiment, the fusion protein further includes hIgG4Fc.

In the third aspect of the present invention, a multivalent PDL-1 complex is provided, wherein the multivalent PDL-1 complex comprises at least two PDL-1 molecules, and at least one of the PDL-1 molecules is the PDL-1 molecule as described in the first aspect of the present invention; or the multivalent PDL-1 complex comprises at least one fusion protein of the second aspect of the present invention.

In the fourth aspect of the present invention, a nucleic acid molecule is provided, wherein the nucleic acid molecule comprises a nucleic acid sequence, or a complementary sequence thereof encoding a PDL-1 molecule of the first aspect of the invention, a fusion protein of the second aspect of the invention, or a multivalent PDL-1 complex of the third aspect of the invention.

In the fifth aspect of the present invention, a vector is provided, wherein the vector includes the nucleic acid molecule of the fourth aspect of the present invention.

In the sixth aspect of the present invention, a host cell is provided, wherein the host cell contains the vector according to the fifth aspect of the present invention or the exogenous nucleic acid molecule according to the fourth aspect of the present invention is integrated within chromosome.

In the seventh aspect of the present invention, a pharmaceutical composition is provided, wherein the composition contains a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier and the PDL-1 molecule according to the first aspect of the present invention, or the fusion protein according to the second aspect of the present invention, or the PDL-1 complex according to the third aspect of the present invention.

In another preferred embodiment, the pharmaceutical composition further includes ImmTAC and/or HATac.

In the eighth aspect of the present invention, a method of treating disease is provided, which includes administering a suitable amount of a PDL-1 molecule according to the first aspect of the present invention, a fusion protein according to the second aspect of the present invention, or a PDL-1 complex according to the third aspect of the present invention, or a pharmaceutical composition according to the seventh aspect of the present invention to a subject in need of treatment.

In another preferred embodiment, the disease is the tumor.

In the ninth aspect of the present invention, a use of a PDL-1 molecule according to the first aspect of the present invention, a fusion protein according to the second aspect of the present invention, or a PDL-1 complex according to the third aspect of the present invention is provided, for preparing drugs for the treatment of tumors.

In the tenth aspect of the present invention, a method for preparing a PDL-1 according to the first aspect of the present invention is provided, including steps of:

(i) cultivating a host cell according to the sixth aspect of the present invention, thereby expressing the PDL-1 molecule according to the first aspect of the invention;

(ii) isolating or purifying the PDL-1 molecule.

It should be understood that in the present invention, any of the technical features specifically described above and below (such as in the Examples) can be combined with each other, thereby constituting new or preferred technical solutions that are not described one by one in the specification.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A and 1B show the extracellular amino acid sequences and nucleotide sequences of wild-type PDL-1 molecules, respectively.

FIG. 2 shows the SDS-PAGE gel of purified wild-type PDL-1 protein.

FIGS. 3A and 3B show the amino acid sequences and nucleotide sequences of the refolded and purified PD-1 in example 2 of the present invention, respectively.

FIG. 4 shows a BIAcore map of binding of wild-type PDL-1 molecules to PD-1 molecules.

FIG. 5 shows the amino acid sequence of the high-affinity PDL-1 molecule of the present invention. Mutated or inserted amino acid residues are underlined.

FIGS. 6A and 6B show the α and β chain amino acid sequences of ImmTAC (1G4), respectively.

FIG. 7 shows the high-affinity PDL-1 molecule of the present invention significantly increases ImmTAC (1G4)-mediated killing of tumor cells by PBMC.

FIG. 8A shows an amino acid sequence of the h1gG4Fc molecule.

FIG. 8B shows an nucleotide sequence of the h1gG4Fc molecule.

FIG. 9 shows a SDS-PAGE gel after purification of the wild-type PDL1-hIgG4Fc fusion protein.

FIG. 10A shows the high-affinity PDL1-hIgG4Fc fusion protein of the present invention significantly increases ImmTAC (1G4)-mediated killing of tumor cell Mel624 by PBMC.

FIG. 10B shows the high-affinity PDL1-hIgG4Fc fusion protein of the present invention significantly increases ImmTAC (1G4)-mediated killing of tumor cell NCI-H1299 by PBMC.

FIG. 10C shows the high-affinity PDL1-hIgG4Fc fusion protein of the present invention significantly increases ImmTAC (1G4)-mediated killing of tumor cell IM9 by PBMC.

FIG. 10D shows the high-affinity PDL1-hIgG4Fc fusion protein of the present invention significantly increases ImmTAC (1G4)-mediated killing of tumor cell MDA-MB-231 by PBMC.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Through extensive and intensive studies, the present inventors unexpectedly discovered that soluble PDL-1 molecules having high affinity for PD-1 molecules can effectively increase the killing ability of lymphocytes. Thus, the present invention provides a soluble high-affinity PDL-1 molecule, which has an affinity for PD-1 that is at least twice the affinity of the wild-type PDL-1 molecule for PD-1.

Specifically, the PDL-1 molecule in the present invention contains a mutation in the amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 1. More specifically, the amino acid sequence of the PDL-1 molecule has at least 90% sequence identity with the amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 1.

Before describing the present invention, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the specific methods and experimental conditions as the methods and conditions can be varied. It should also be understood that the terms used herein are for the purpose of describing a specific embodiment only, and are not intended to be limiting. The scope of the invention will only be limited by the appended claims.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs.

Although any methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the embodiment or test of the present invention, the preferred methods and materials are exemplified herein.

TERM

Wild-type PDL-1 molecule: The wild-type PDL-1 molecule according to the present invention refers to the extracellular region of the wild-type PDL-1 molecule, the amino acid sequence and nucleotide sequence thereof are shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, respectively.

PBMC:

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) are blood cells with rounded nuclei such as lymphocytes or monocytes. These blood cells are a key component of the immune system that resists infection and adapts to intruders. The lymphocyte population consists of T cells (about 75% of CD4 and CD8 positive), as well as B cells and NK cells (totally about 25%).

High affinity T cell receptor: referring to a T cell receptor, whose affinity of a ligand thereof is at least twice that of the corresponding wild type T cell receptor and a ligand thereof.

Tumor: referring to the growth or carcinogenesis for all types of cancer cells, metastatic tissue or malignant transformed cells, tissues or organs, regardless of pathological type or stage of infection. Examples of tumors include, but are not limited to: solid tumors, soft tissue tumors, and metastatic lesions. Examples of solid tumors include: malignant tumors of different organ systems, such as sarcoma, lung squamous cell carcinoma, and cancer. Fox example: infected prostate, lung, breast, lymph, intestines and stomach (e.g. colon), and genitourinary tract (e.g. kidney, epithelial cell), pharynx. Lung squamous cell carcinoma includes malignant tumors, for example, most colon cancer, rectal cancer, renal cell carcinoma, liver cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, small intestine cancer, and esophageal cancer. Metastatic lesions of the above cancer can also be treated and prevented with the methods and compositions of the present invention.

Pharmaceutical carriers: Also known as excipients or stabilizers. The dose and concentration used are non-toxic to the exposed cells or individuals thereof. Commonly, the physiologically acceptable carrier is a pH buffered aqueous solution. Examples of physiologically acceptable carriers include buffers such as phosphates, citrates and other organic acids; antioxidants, including ascorbic acid; low molecular weight (less than about 10 residues) polypeptides; proteins, such as serum albumin, gelatin, or immunoglobulins; hydrophilic polymers such as polyvinylpyrrolidone; amino acids such as glycine, glutamine, asparagine, arginine, or lysine; monosaccharides, disaccharides, and other saccharides, including glucose, mannose, or dextrins; chelating agents such as EDTA; sugar alcohols such as mannitol or sorbitol; salt forming counter ions such as sodium; and/or nonionic surfactants such as TWEEN™, polyethylene glycol (PEG) and PLURONICS™.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

PD-1 is an immuno-inhibitory receptor expressed on activated T cells and B cells. PDL-1 is a ligand for PD-1 and belongs to the B7 family. PDL-1 has IgV and IgC sample regions, tails of transmembrane domains and cytoplasmic domains. PDL-1 interacts with receptor PD-1 on lymphocytes and plays an important role in the negative regulation of immune responses. Through extensive and intensive studies, the present inventors unexpectedly discovered that soluble PDL-1 molecules having high affinity for PD-1 molecules can effectively increase the killing ability of lymphocytes. Thus, the present invention provides a soluble high-affinity PDL-1 molecule, which has an affinity for PD-1 that is at least twice the affinity of the wild-type PDL-1 molecule for PD-1.

The binding affinity (in inverse proportion to the dissociation equilibrium constant K_(D)) and the binding half-life (indicated as T_(1/2)) of the PDL-1 molecules to PD-1 as described above can be determined by any suitable method. It should be understood that doubling the affinity will result in a halving of K_(D). T_(1/2) is calculated as In2 divided by the dissociation rate (K_(off)). Therefore, doubling K_(off) will result in a halving of T_(1/2). The same test protocol is preferably used to detect the binding affinity or the binding half-life several times, for example 3 or more, and take the average of the results. In a preferred embodiment, these detections are performed using the Surface Plasmon Resonance (BIAcore) method in the embodiments of the present invention.

The method detects that the dissociation equilibrium constant K_(D) of the wild-type PDL-1 molecule to PD-1 molecule in the present invention is 2.462E-05M, and the BIAcore binding pattern thereof is shown in FIG. 4. Since the doubling of affinity will lead to a halving of K_(D), if the high-affinity PDL-1 molecule has a dissociation equilibrium constant K_(D) of 1.231 E-05M for the PD-1 molecule, suggesting that the affinity of this high-affinity PDL-1 molecule to the PD-1 molecule is twice the affinity of the wild-type PDL-1 molecule to PD-1. The conversion relationship between K_(D) value units is well-known for those skilled in the art that, that is, 1M=1000 μM, 1 μM=1000 nM, 1 nM=1000 pM.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, using the preferred method for measuring affinity of the present invention, the affinity of the PDL-1 molecule of the present invention to the PD-1 molecule is determined to be at least twice the affinity of the wild-type PDL-1 molecule to the PD-1 molecule; preferably, at least 5 times; more preferably, at least 10 times; most preferably, at least 50 times.

In another preferred embodiment, the affinity of the PDL-1 molecule to the PD-1 molecule is at least 100 times the affinity of the wild-type PDL-1 molecule to the PD-1 molecule; preferably, at least 200 times; more preferably, at least 500 times.

Specifically, the affinity K_(D) of the high-affinity PDL-1 molecule to PD-1 of the present invention is ≤1.231E-05M; preferably 1.0E-06M≤K_(D)≤1.0 E-05M; more preferably 1.0E-07M≤K_(D)≤1.0 E-06M; most preferably 1.0E-08M≤K_(D)≤1.0 E-07M.

The high affinity PDL-1 molecule of the present invention contains one or more mutations in the amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 1. Specifically, the amino acid sequence of the PDL-1 molecule has at least 90% (preferably, at least 92%; more preferably, at least 94%, such as 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99%) sequence identity with the amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 1.

More specifically, the mutated amino acid residue site in the high affinity PDL-1 molecule of the present invention includes one or more of 1F, 36I, 38Y, 40E, 47I, 48Q, 95R, 97M, 99S, 101G or one or more amino acids inserted after 102G, wherein the amino acid residue numbering is based on the number as shown in SEQ ID NO: 1.

In another preferred embodiment, the mutated PDL-1 molecule includes one or more amino acid residues selected from the group consisting of: 1W; 36Q, 36E, 36T, or 36N; 38F, 38N, 38H, or 38A; 40M, 40F, 40L, 40W or 40Y; 47L, 47V, 47F, 47S, 47Y, 47P or 47A; 48S; 95T, 95V or 95L; 97L; 99G or 99A; 101D, 101K, 101E or 101H; amino acid G inserted after 102G; wherein the amino acid residue numbering is based on the number as shown in SEQ ID NO: 1.

In another preferred embodiment, the amino acid sequence of the PDL-1 molecule is selected from one of SEQ ID NO: 5-34.

The wild-type PDL-1 molecules used in the present invention do not contain a transmembrane domain to obtain soluble and high-affinity PDL-1 molecules. Therefore, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the PDL-1 molecule is soluble.

Mutations can be performed using any suitable method, including but not limited to those based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR), restriction enzyme-based cloning, or ligation-independent cloning (LIC) methods. These methods are described in many standard molecular biology textbooks. For further details on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) mutagenesis and restriction enzyme-based cloning, see Sambrook and Russell, (2001) Molecular Cloning-A Laboratory Manual (third edition) CSHL Press. More information on the LIC method can be found in (Rashtchian, (1995) Curr Opin Biotechnol 6(1): 30-6).

The method for producing the high-affinity PDL-1 molecules of the present invention may be, but is not limited to, PDL-1 with high affinity for PD-1 was screened from a diversity library for displaying the phage particles of the PDL-1 molecules, as described in the literature (Li, et al (2005) Nature Biotech 23(3): 349-354).

It is understood that the gene expressing the wild-type PDL-1 of the present invention or the gene expressing the slightly modified wild-type PDL-1 of the present invention can be used to prepare the template strand. The required changes to produce the high affinity PDL-1 of the invention are then introduced into the DNA encoding the template strand.

The PDL-1 molecules of the invention can also be provided in the form of multivalent complexes. The multivalent PDL-1 of the present invention comprises two, three, four or more PDL-1 molecules of the present invention combined to form a polymer. A dimer can be prepared with an IgG FC fragment, as described in Example 5 of the present invention, or a tetramer can be produced by the tetrameric domain of p53, or multiple complexes formed by PDL-1 of the present invention in combination with another molecule.

The high-affinity PDL-1 molecules of the present invention may be used alone or may be covalently or otherwise combined with the conjugate, preferably covalently. The conjugate is preferably a T cell receptor, and more preferably, the T cell receptor is a high affinity T cell receptor.

The high affinity PDL-1 molecules of the present invention can also be used in combination with other molecules to produce an effective synergism. Preferably, the other molecule is ImmTAC or HATac. Both molecules are able to retarget T cells, thereby killing the target cells. The ImmTAC molecule is a fusion molecule of a soluble double-stranded TCR molecule containing an artificial inter-chain disulfide bond and an anti-CD3 antibody between constant regions of α β, see the literature (Joanne Oates, Bent K. Jakobsen. (ImmTACs) Novel bi-specific agents for targeted cancer therapy. OncoImmunology 2:2, e22891, February 2013). The HATac molecule is a high-affinity T-cell activation core, wherein one form is a fusion molecule of a soluble single-chain TCR molecule and an anti-CD3 antibody linked by the variable domains of α and β chains mutated from a hydrophobic core. The soluble single-chain TCR molecules can be specifically referred to patent document WO2014/206304.

The invention also relates to a nucleic acid molecule encoding PDL-1 of the invention. The nucleic acid molecules of the invention can be in form of DNA or RNA. DNA can be a coding or non-coding strand. For example, a nucleic acid sequence encoding a TCR of the present invention can be the same as or a degenerate variant of the nucleic acid sequence shown in the drawings of the present invention. Illustrating the meaning of “degenerate variant”, as used herein, “degenerate variant” refers to a nucleic acid sequence encoding a protein sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 but differs from the sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 in the present invention.

The full-length nucleic acid molecule sequence or a fragment thereof of the present invention can usually be obtained by methods, but not limited to PCR amplification, recombination or artificial synthesis. At present, DNA sequences encoding PDL-1 (or a fragment thereof, or a derivative thereof) of the present invention can be obtained completely by chemical synthesis. The DNA sequence can then be introduced into various existing DNA molecules (or vectors) and cells known in the art.

The invention also relates to a vector comprising a nucleic acid molecule of the invention, and a host cell produced by genetic engineering using the vector or coding sequence of the present invention.

The invention also provides a pharmaceutical composition, the pharmaceutical composition contains a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier and the PDL-1 of the present invention, or the PDL-1 complex of the present invention.

The present invention also provides a method for treating diseases, comprising administering an appropriate amount of the PDL-1 of the present invention, or the PDL-1 complex of the present invention, or the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention to a subject in need of treatment; in particular, the PDL-1 molecule of the present invention is used in combination with other molecules, preferably, the other molecule is ImmTAC or HATac.

It should be understood that the amino acid names herein are identified by the international single English letters, and the corresponding amino acid names are abbreviated as: Ala (A), Arg (R), Asn (N), Asp (D), Cys (C), Gln (Q), Glu (E), Gly (G), His (H), Ile (I), Leu (L), Lys (K), Met (M), Phe (F), Pro (P), Ser (S), Thr (T), Trp (W), Tyr (Y), Val (V); in the art, the function of the protein will not be changed when the amino acids are substituted with those having similar or similar properties. The structure and function of the protein will not also be changed when addition of one or several amino acids at the C-terminus and/or N-terminus.

The present invention also includes slightly modified PDL-1 molecules for PDL-1 of the present invention. Modifications (usually without changing primary structure) include: chemically derivatized form of PDL-1 of the present invention such as acetylation or carboxylation. Modifications also include glycosylation, such as those PDL-1 molecules produced by glycosylation modifications in the synthesis and processing of the PDL-1 of the present invention or in further processing steps. This modification can be accomplished by exposing PDL-1 to enzymes that undergo glycosylation (e.g. mammalian glycosylase or deglycosylation enzyme). Modified forms also include sequences with phosphorylated amino acid residues (e.g., phosphotyrosine, phosphoserine, phosphothreonine), and also include PDL-1 that has been modified to increase its resistance to proteolysis or to optimize solubility.

The PDL-1 or PDL-1 complex of the invention can be provided in a pharmaceutical composition together with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. The PDL-1, multivalent PDL-1 complex of the invention is generally provided as part of a sterile pharmaceutical composition, the composition typically includes a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. The pharmaceutical composition can be in any suitable form (depending on the desired method of administration to the patient). It can be provided in unit dosage form, usually in a sealed container, and may be provided as part of a kit. Such kits (but not necessarily) include instructions for use. It can include a plurality of said unit dosage forms. In addition, the PDL-1 of the present invention can be used alone or in combination or coupled with other therapeutic agents (eg, formulated in the same pharmaceutical composition).

The pharmaceutical composition can also contain a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. The term “pharmaceutically acceptable carrier” refers to a carrier for the administration of a therapeutic agent. The term refers to pharmaceutical carriers that do not induce the generation of antibodies that are harmful to the individual receiving the composition, and are not excessive toxicity after administration. These vectors are well-known to those of ordinary skill in the art. A full discussion of pharmaceutically acceptable excipients can be found in Remington's Pharmaceutical Sciences (Mack Pub. Co., N.J. 1991). Such carriers include, but are not limited to, saline, buffer, dextrose, water, glycerol, ethanol, adjuvants, and combinations thereof.

Pharmaceutically acceptable carriers in therapeutic compositions can contain liquids such as water, saline, glycerol, and ethanol. In addition, auxiliary substances may also be present in these carriers, such as wetting agents or emulsifiers, pH buffer substances, etc. In general, the therapeutic compositions can be prepared as injections, for example liquid solutions or suspensions; solid forms suitable for formulation in a solution or in a suspension, in a liquid vehicle prior to injection can also be prepared. Once formulated into a composition of the invention, it can be administered by conventional routes including, but not limited to: intraocular, intramuscular, intravenous, subcutaneous, intradermal, or topical administration, preferably parenteral, including subcutaneous, intramuscular, or intravenous. The subject to be prevented or treated can be an animal; especially human.

When the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention is used in actual treatment, various different dosage forms of the pharmaceutical composition can be used depending on the usage. Preferred examples include injections, oral preparation, and the like. These pharmaceutical compositions can be formulated by mixing, diluting, or dissolving according to conventional methods, and occasionally adding suitable pharmaceutical additives such as excipients, disintegrants, binders, lubricants, diluents, buffers, isotonicities, preservatives, wetting agents, emulsifiers, dispersants, stabilizers, and co-solvents, and the formulation process can be performed according to the dosage form in the usual manner.

The pharmaceutical composition of the present invention can also be administered as a sustained release agent. For example, the PDL-1 of the present invention may be incorporated into a pellet or microcapsule with a sustained release polymer as a carrier, and then the pellet or microcapsule may be surgically implanted into the tissue to be treated. As examples of the sustained-release polymer, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers, polyhydrometaacrylates, polyacrylamides, polyvinylpyrrolidone, methylcellulose, lactic acid polymers, lactic acid-glycolic acid copolymers, and the like may be exemplified. Preferred are biodegradable polymers such as lactic acid polymers and lactic acid-glycolic acid copolymers.

When the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention is used in actual treatment, the PDL-1 or PDL-1 complex of the present invention as an active ingredient can be reasonably determined according to the weight, age, sex, degree of symptoms of each patient to be treated, and the proper amount is finally determined by physician.

Main Advantages of the Present Invention are:

-   -   (1) The present invention obtains PDL-1 molecules with high         affinity for PD-1.     -   (2) The high-affinity PDL-1 molecule of the present invention         can effectively increase the killing ability of lymphocytes.

The present invention will be further illustrated below with references to the specific examples. It should be understood that these examples are only to illustrate the invention but not to limit the scope of the invention. The experimental methods with no specific conditions described in the following examples are generally performed under the conventional conditions, such as Sambrook and Russell et al., Molecular Cloning-A Laboratory Manual (Third Edition) (2001) CSHL Press, or according to the manufacture's instructions. Unless indicated otherwise, parts and percentage are calculated by weight. The experimental materials and reagents used in the following examples were obtained from commercial sources unless otherwise specified.

Example 1: Expression, Refolding, and Purification of Wild-Type PDL-1

The extracellular amino acid sequence and nucleotide sequence of the wild-type PDL-1 are SEQ ID NOs: 1 and 2, respectively. As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the gene of interest carrying the extracellular sequence of wild-type PDL-1 was double-digested with NcoI and NotI and ligated with the pET28a vector digested with NcoI and NotI. The ligation product was transformed into E. coli DH5α, coated with LB plate containing kanamycin, inverted cultured at 37° C. overnight, positive clones were picked for PCR screening, the positive recombinants were sequenced, and the correct sequence was determined, and the recombinant plasmid was extracted and transformed to E. coli BL21 (DE3) for expression.

The above mentioned BL21 (DE3) colonies containing the recombinant plasmid pET28a-PDL-1 were all inoculated into a LB medium containing kanamycin, cultured at 37° C. until the OD600 was 0.6-0.8, and IPTG was added to a final concentration of 0.5 mM. The culture was continued for 4 h at 37° C. Cell pellets were harvested by centrifugation at 5000 rpm for 15 min, cell pellets were lysed with Bugbuster Master Mix (Merck), centrifuged at 6000 rpm for 15 min to recover inclusion bodies, washed with Bugbuster (Merck) to remove cell debris and membrane fractions, and centrifuged at 6000 rpm for 15 min. Inclusion bodies were collected. The inclusion bodies were dissolved in a buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl, 200 mM NaCl, 2 mM EDTA, 6 M guanidine HCl, pH 8.0), and the insoluble substances were removed by high-speed centrifugation. The supernatant was quantified by BCA and then dispensed and stored at −80° C. until use.

2 mL of buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl, 200 mM NaCl, 2 mM EDTA, 6 M guanidine HCl, pH 8.0) was added to 7 mg of soluble PDL-1 inclusion body protein, DTT was added to a final concentration of 10 mM, and the solution was treated at 37° C. for 30 min. The treated PDL-1 was added dropwise to a 100 mL renaturation buffer (50 mM HEPES, pH 7.5, 500 mM L-arginine, 9 mM glutathione, 1 mM glutathione disulfide, 24 mM NaCl, 1 mM KCl) using a syringe. After stirring at 4° C. for 30 min, the renaturation solution was loaded into a cellulose membrane dialysis bag with a 3.5 kDa of cut-off. The dialysis bag was placed in 2 L of pre-cooled water and slowly stirred overnight at 4° C. After 24 hours, the dialysate was changed to 2L of pre-cooled buffer (10 mMTris-HCl pH 8.0), and dialysis was continued for 24 h at 4° C. The dialysate was then replaced with the same fresh buffer and dialysis was continued for 24 hours. The sample was filtered through a 0.45 um filter, vacuum degassed and passed through an anion exchange column (HiTrap Q HP, GE Healthcare), the protein was purified with 0-1M NaCl linear gradient elution formulated with 10 μM Tris-HCl pH 8.0. The eluted fractions collected were subjected to SDS-PAGE analysis, and the SDS-PAGE gel was shown in FIG. 2. The PDL-1 fraction was concentrated and further purified on a gel filtration column (Superdex 75 10/300, GE Healthcare). The target fraction was also subjected to SDS-PAGE analysis.

The eluted fractions used for BIAcore analysis were further tested for purity thereof using gel filtration. The conditions were: column Agilent Bio SEC-3 (300 A, φ7.8×300 mm), mobile phase: 150 mM phosphate buffer, flow rate: 0.5 mL/min, column temperature: 25° C., UV detection wavelength: 214 nm.

Example 2: Characterization for Combination

BIAcore Analysis

The BIAcore T200 real-time analysis system was used to detect the binding activity of the wild-type PDL-1 molecule to PD-1. The anti-streptavidin antibody (GenScript) was added to the coupling buffer (10 mM sodium acetate buffer, pH 4.77). The antibody was then flowed through a CMS chip previously activated with EDC and NHS to immobilize the antibody on the chip surface. Finally, the unreacted activation surface was blocked with a solution of ethanolamine hydrochloride to complete the coupling process. The coupling level is approximately 15,000 RU.

A low concentration of streptavidin is allowed to flow over the surface of the antibody-coated chip, then the biotinylated PD-1 is passed through the detection channel and the other channel is used as a reference channel. Then, 0.05 mM biotin was passed through the chip at a flow rate of 10 μL/min for 2 min to block the remaining binding sites of streptavidin. The single-cycle kinetic analysis method was used to measure its affinity. PDL-1 was diluted with HEPES-EP buffer (10 mM HEPES, 150 mM NaCl, 3 mM EDTA, 0.005% P20, pH 7.4) to several different concentrations and successively flowed through the chip surface at a flow rate of 30 μL/min. The binding time for each injection was 120 s, and it was disassociated for 600 s after the last injection. The chips were regenerated with 10 mMGly-HCl, pH 1.75 after each round of assays. Kinetic parameters were calculated using BIAcore Evaluation software.

The amino acid sequence and nucleotide sequence of PD-1 used in this example are shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, respectively. The expression, renaturation and purification processes are the same as those of the wild-type PDL-1 in Example 1. Biotinylation process thereof is as follows:

a. Biotinylation

The purified PD-1 molecule was concentrated using a Millipore ultrafiltration tube while the buffer was replaced with 10 mMTris pH 8.0, then biotinylation reagents of 0.05 M Bicine pH 8.3, 10 mM ATP, 10 mM MgOAc, 50 μM D-Biotin, 100 μg/ml BirA enzyme (GST-BirA) were added. The mixture was incubated at room temperature overnight and SDS-PAGE was used to determine if biotinylation was complete.

b. Purification of Biotinylated Complexes

The biotinylated PD-1 molecule was concentrated to 1 ml using a Millipore ultrafiltration tube, and the biotinylated PD-1 was purified by gel filtration chromatography. 1 ml of the concentrated biotinylated PD-1 molecule was loaded with a filtered PBS pre-equilibrated HiPrep™ 16/60 5200 HR column (GE General Electric) and then eluted with PBS at a flow rate of 1 ml/min using an Akta purifier (GE General Electric). The biotinylated PD-1 molecule eluted as a single peak at about 10 ml. The protein-containing fractions were pooled, concentrated using a Millipore ultrafilter, the BCA method (Thermo) was used to determine the protein concentration, and the biotinylated PD-1 fraction was stored at −80° C.

The K_(D) value of the binding affinity of the wild-type PDL-1 molecule to the PD-1 molecule detected by the above procedure of the present example was 2.462E-05M, and the BIAcore binding pattern thereof is shown in FIG. 4.

Example 3: Generation of High Affinity PDL-1 Molecules

The extracellular sequence of wild-type PDL-1 described in Example 1 was used as a template strand. Screening of high affinity PDL-1 was performed according to the phage display and screening methods described by Li et al. ((2005) Nature Biotech 23(3):349-354). After several rounds of screening, the phage libraries had strong binding signals with PD-1, and single clone was picked from the phage library for sequence analysis.

Expression, renaturation and purification of the high affinity PDL-1 molecules of the present invention are performed as described in Example 1, and the affinity with the PD-1 molecule was determined as described in Example 2. The affinity of the high-affinity PDL-1 molecule obtained in the present invention to the PD-1 molecule is at least twice that of the wild-type PDL-1 molecule to the PD-1 molecule. The amino acid sequence thereof is shown in FIG. 5, and the affinity values thereof with the PD-1 molecule are shown in Table 1 below.

TABLE 1 NO. of High affinity PDL-1 molecule SEQ ID NO K_(on) (1/Ms) K_(off) (1/s) K_(D) (M) L1C2 5 5.010E+04 3.762E−02 7.509E−07 L1F2 6 3.017E+04 1.039E−01 3.444E−06 L1A4 7 4.797E+04 4.386E−02 9.143E−07 L22A5 8 1.154E+04 5.588E−02 4.844E−06 L2B6 9 1.299E+04 1.339E−01 1.031E−05 L2F4 10 2.050E+04 1.545E−01 7.538E−06 L2F5 11 1.216E+04 1.224E−01 1.006E−05 L2D7 12 1.134E+04 1.234E−01 1.088E−05 L2H3 13 1.710E+04 1.534E−01 8.969E−06 L2G10 14 3.874E+04 1.783E−01 4.603E−06 L2C4 15 1.102E+04 1.236E−01 1.122E−05 L22C7 16 1.116E+04 1.326E−01 1.188E−05 L2B8 17 1.281E+04 1.498E−01 1.170E−05 L22D5 18 4.141E+04 2.681E−01 6.475E−06 L2A6 19 9.669E+03 4.582E−02 4.739E−06 L3B3 20 1.422E+05 7.099E−02 4.994E−07 L3B3a 21 1.616E+05 9.000E−02 5.570E−07 L3B3b 22 8.602E+04 5.729E−02 6.659E−07 L3B3C 23 6.781E+04 4.398E−02 6.485E−07 L3B3d 24 5.454E+04 5.258E−02 9.641E−07 L3C7 25 4.387E+04 3.290E−02 7.500E−07 L3C7a 26 1.203E+05 1.386E−02 1.152E−07 L3C7b 27 1.433E+05 1.759E−02 1.227E−07 L3C7c 28 1.470E+05 1.555E−02 1.058E−07 L3C7d 29 1.094E+05 5.902E−03 5.393E−08 L3D9 30 2.570E+04 8.714E−02 3.391E−06 L32G5 31 5.664E+04 1.685E−01 2.975E−06 L3G10 32 2.220E+04 2.628E−01 1.184E−05 L32H8 33 4.342E+04 1.240E−02 2.856E−06 L4D6 34 1.768E+04 2.011E−01 1.137E−05

Example 4: The Effect of High Affinity PDL-1 Molecule on the Killing Effect of PBMC (Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells) on Tumor Cell Line (A375)

This example uses a non-radioactive cytotoxicity test to verify the killing effect. This assay is a colorimetric alternative to the 51 Cr release cytotoxicity assay that quantitatively measures lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) released after cell lysis. A 30-minute coupled enzyme assay was used to detect the released LDH in the culture supernatant, which converted the tetrazolium salt (INT) into a red formazan product. The amount of color formed is proportional to the number of lysed cells. Absorbance data at 490 nm was collected using a standard 96 well plate reader.

The materials used were as follows: CytoTox96 non-radioactive cytotoxicity assay (Promega) (G1780) contains a substrate mix, assay buffer, lysis solution, and stop solution; Test medium: 10% FBS (heat-inactivated, Gibbco, Cat. number 10108-165), VIVO-15 (Lonza), Cat. number: 04-418); Nunc microwell round-bottomed 96-well tissue culture plates (Nunc, Cat. No. 163320); Nunc-immunized plate Maxisorb (Nickel, Cat. No. 442404).

The target cells used in this example were A375 cells (purchased from ATCC, Cat. No. CRL-1619). Target cells were prepared in test medium; the target cell concentration was adjusted to 2×10∧5 cells/ml to obtain 2×10∧4 cells/well, 100 μl.

The effector cells (PBMC cells) used in this example were sorted from fresh white tunica of healthy people. The cells were resuspended at 1×10⁶ cells/ml in the test medium to obtain 1×10⁵ cells/well, 100 μl.

The final concentration of ImmTAC in the experiment was 10∧−9M, and the storage concentration of ImmTAC was 13×10⁻⁶M, which was diluted 13,000-fold and was directly added to the prepared effector cells. The final concentration of different high affinity PDL1 is 30 μg/ml. The α and β chain amino acid sequences of ImmTAC used in this example were shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, respectively.

The components of the test were added to the plate using the following sequence: 100 μl of target cells (prepared as described above) were added to each well; 100 μl of effector cells (prepared as described above) were added to each well; different high affinity PDL1 was added to each well.

Several controls were prepared as follows: Spontaneous release of effector cells: only 200 μl of effector cells; Spontaneous release of target cells: only 200 μl of target cells; Maximum release of target cells: only 200 μl of target cells. All wells were prepared in triplicate and the final volume was 200 μl. Plates were centrifuged at 250×g for 4 minutes and then incubated at 37° C. for 24 hours. 20 μl of the lysis solution was added to the target cell maximal release control well and the supernatant was collected after 45 minutes. Plates were centrifuged at 250×g for 4 minutes. 50 μl of supernatant from each well of the assay plate was transferred to the corresponding well of a flat-bottomed 96 well Nunc Vlnxisorb plate. The substrate mixture was reconstituted with assay buffer (12 ml). Then 50 μl of the reconstituted substrate mixture was added to each well of the plate. The plate was covered with aluminum foil and incubated at room temperature for 30 minutes. 50 μl of stop solution was added to each well of the plate to stop the reaction. The absorbance at 490 nm was recorded on an Elisa plate reader within 1 hour after addition of the stop solution.

Calculation of results: The average absorbance of the background was deducted from absorbance values of the test, target cell spontaneous release, and average absorbance value of volume-calibrated control was deducted from absorbance value obtained from maximum release control of target cells. The calibration values obtained in the previous two steps were used in the following formula to calculate the percentage of cytotoxicity: % cytotoxicity=100×(test−target cell spontaneous−effector cell spontaneous)/(target cell maximum−target cell spontaneous).

The results of the experiment were shown in FIG. 7. PDL1 is a wild-type PDL-1 molecule in the histogram of the subscript “PBMC+A375+1G4+PDL1” in FIG. 7. The increase or decrease in the lysis rate in the figure was relative to the “PBMC+A375+1G4” histogram. The specific calculation was |(“PBMC+A375+1G4+PDL-1 molecule”−“PBMC+A375+1 G4”)|/“PBMC+A375+1 G4”. This result showed that part of the high-affinity PDL-1 molecule of the present invention significantly increased the killing effect of PBMCs on tumor cells.

Example 5: Construction, Expression and Purification of High Affinity PDL1 Dimer Proteins

Human immunoglobulin fragment crystallizable (h1gG4Fc) was used to construct dimers of high affinity PDL1 molecules. Specifically, the 3′-end of the high-affinity PDL-1 extracellular nucleotide sequence and the 5′-end of the hIgG4Fc nucleotide sequence were connected by overlap PCR to obtain the nucleic acid sequence and amino acid sequence of the fusion protein. The hIgG4Fc amino acid sequence and nucleic acid sequence were SEQ ID NOs: 37 and 38, respectively as shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B. The gene of interest carrying the fusion protein sequence was double digested with EcoRI and NotI, and ligated with EcoRI and NotI-digested pcDNA3.1(+) vector. The ligation product was transformed into TOP10, ampicillin-containing LB plates were coated and inverted cultured overnight at 37° C. Positive clones were picked for PCR screening and positive recombinants were sequenced. After the sequence was determined to be correct, the recombinant plasmid was extracted and transiently transferred to 293T cells for expression. The dimer of the wild-type PDL1 molecule is constructed in the same manner as described above, and the dimer of the wild-type PDL1 molecule is expressed in the present invention as PDL1-hIgG4. Dimers of high-affinity PDL1 molecules are expressed in the present invention as high-affinity PDL1 molecule numbering-hIgG4, such as L2D7-hIgG4.

1×10{circumflex over ( )}7 293T cells (purchased from ATCC, Cat. No. CRL-11268) were inoculated into 10 cm cell culture dishes, washed with PBS once after 12 h, and replaced with opti-MEM medium. Lipo2000: Recombinant plasmid (1 μg/μl) was added to opti-MEM at a ratio of 2:1 and placed for 5 min at room temperature. The opti-MEM containing lipo2000 was added dropwise to the opti-MEM containing the recombinant plasmid, mixed and placed at room temperature for 20 min. 293T cells that had been replaced with opti-MEM medium were replaced with Freestyle™ 293 medium after 4 hours and cultured in a 5% CO₂ incubator at 37° C. for 3 days.

The culture supernatant was collected, filtered through a 0.45 um filter, and the protein was purified by an anion exchange column (HiTrap Q HP, GE Healthcare) using a linear gradient elution of 0-1 M NaCl in 20 mM Tris-HCl pH 7.0. Elution fractions collected were subjected to SDS-PAGE analysis. Take PDL1-hIgG4Fc as an example, the SDS-PAGE gel was shown in FIG. 9. The fractions were concentrated and further purified on a gel filtration column (Superdex 200 10/300, GE Healthcare). The target fractions were also subjected to SDS-PAGE analysis.

The materials used were as follows: 10 cm cell culture dish (greiner, Cat. Number: 627160), opti-MEM medium (gibco, Cat. Number: 31985-070), Lipo2000, Freestyle™ 293 medium (gibco, Cat. Number: 12338-018), PureLink™ HiPure Plasmid Maxiprep Kit (invitrogen, Cat. Number: K2100-06)

Example 6: The Effect of High Affinity PDL1-hIgG4Fc Fusion Protein on the Killing Effect of PBMC (Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells) on Tumor Cell Lines

This example uses a non-radioactive cytotoxicity test to verify the killing effect. This assay is a colorimetric alternative to the 51 Cr release cytotoxicity assay that quantitatively measures lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) released after cell lysis. A 30-minute coupled enzyme assay was used to detect the released LDH in the culture supernatant, which converted the tetrazolium salt (INT) into a red formazan product. The amount of color formed is proportional to the number of lysed cells. Absorbance data at 490 nm was collected using a standard 96 well plate reader.

The materials used were as follows: CytoTox96 non-radioactive cytotoxicity assay (Promega) (G1780) contains a substrate mix, assay buffer, lysis solution, and stop solution; Test medium: 10% FBS (heat-inactivated, Gibbco, Cat. number 10108-165), VIVO-15 (Lonza), Cat. number: 04-418); Nunc microwell round-bottomed 96-well tissue culture plates (Nunc, Cat. No. 163320); Nunc-immunized plate Maxisorb (Nickel, Cat. No. 442404).

The target cells used in this example were Mel624 cells (available from Cassian Yee Lab), NCI-H1299 cells (purchased from ATCC, Cat. No. CRL-5803), IM9 cells (purchased from ATCC, Cat. No. CRL-159), MDA-MB-231 cells (purchased from ATCC, Cat. No. CRM-HTB-26). Target cells were prepared in test medium; the target cell concentration was adjusted to 2×10∧5 cells/ml to obtain 2×10∧4 cells/well, 100 μl.

The effector cells (PBMC cells) used in this example were sorted from fresh white tunica of healthy people. The cells were resuspended at 1×10∧6 cells/ml in the test medium to obtain 1×10∧5 cells/well, 100 μl.

The final concentration of ImmTAC in the experiment was 10∧−9M, and the storage concentration of ImmTAC was 5×10∧−6M, which was diluted 5000-fold and was directly added to the prepared effector cells. The final concentration of different high affinity PDL1-hIgG4Fc fusion protein is 20 μg/ml. The α and β chain amino acid sequences of ImmTAC (1G4) used in this example were shown in FIGS. 6a and 6b , respectively.

The components of the test were added to the plate using the following sequence: 100 μl of target cells (prepared as described above) were added to each well; 100 μl of effector cells (prepared as described above) were added to each well; different high affinity PDL1-hIgG4Fc fusion protein was added to each well.

Several controls were prepared as follows: Spontaneous release of effector cells: only 200 μl of effector cells; Spontaneous release of target cells: only 200 μl of target cells; Maximum release of target cells: only 200 μl of target cells. All wells were prepared in triplicate and the final volume was 200 μl. Plates were centrifuged at 250×g for 4 minutes and then incubated at 37° C. for 20 hours. 20 μl of the lysis solution was added to the target cell maximal release control well and the supernatant was collected after 45 minutes. Plates were centrifuged at 250×g for 4 minutes. 50 μl of supernatant from each well of the assay plate was transferred to the corresponding well of a flat-bottomed 96 well Nunc Vlnxisorb plate. The substrate mixture was reconstituted with assay buffer (12 ml). Then 50 μl of the reconstituted substrate mixture was added to each well of the plate. The plate was covered with aluminum foil and incubated at room temperature for 30 minutes. 50 μl of stop solution was added to each well of the plate to stop the reaction. The absorbance at 490 nm was recorded on an Elisa plate reader within 1 hour after addition of the stop solution.

Calculation of results: The average absorbance of the background was deducted from absorbance values of the test, target cell spontaneous release, and average absorbance value of volume-calibrated control was deducted from absorbance value obtained from maximum release control of target cells. The calibration values obtained in the previous two steps were used in the following formula to calculate the percentage of cytotoxicity: % cytotoxicity=100×(test−target cell spontaneous−effector cell spontaneous)/(target cell maximum−target cell spontaneous).

The experimental results were shown in FIGS. 10A, 10B, 10C and 10D.

PDL1-h1gG4 in the histogram of “PBMC+Mel624+1G4+PDL1-h1gG4” in FIG. 10A was the wild-type PDL-1 fusion molecule. The increase or decrease in the lysis rate in the figure was relative to the “PBMC+Mel624+1G4” histogram. The specific calculation was |(“PBMC+Mel624+1G4+high affinity PDL1-h1gG4 molecule”-“PBMC+Mel624+1G4+PDL1-h1gG4 molecule”)|/“PBMC+Mel624+1G4+PDL1-h1gG4 molecule”. This result showed that part of the high-affinity PDL-1 fusion molecule of the present invention significantly enhanced the killing effect of PBMC on tumor cell Mel624.

PDL1-h1gG4 in the histogram of “PBMC+NCI-H1299+1G4+PDL1-h1gG4” in FIG. 10B was the wild-type PDL-1 fusion molecule. The increase or decrease in the lysis rate in the figure was relative to the “PBMC+NCI-H1299+1G4” histogram. The specific calculation was |(“PBMC+NCI-H1299+1G4+high affinity PDL1-h1gG4 molecule”−“PBMC+NCI-H1299+1G4+PDL1-h1gG4 molecule”)|/“PBMC+NCI-H1299+1G4+PDL1-h1gG4 molecule.” This result showed that part of the high-affinity PDL-1 fusion molecule of the present invention significantly enhanced the killing effect of PBMC on tumor cell NCI-H1299.

PDL1-h1gG4 in the histogram of “PBMC+IM9+1G4+PDL1-h1gG4” in FIG. 10C was the wild-type PDL-1 fusion molecule. The increase or decrease in the lysis rate in the figure was relative to the “PBMC+IM9+1G4+PDL1-h1gG4” histogram. The specific calculation was |(“PBMC+IM9+1G4+high affinity PDL1-h1gG4 molecule”-“PBMC+IM9+1G4+PDL1-h1gG4 molecule”)|/“PBMC+IM9+1G4+PDL1-h1gG4 molecule”. This result showed that part of the high-affinity PDL-1 fusion molecule of the present invention significantly enhanced the killing effect of PBMC on tumor cell IM9.

PDL1-h1gG4 in the histogram of “PBMC+MDA-MB-231+1G4+PDL1-h1gG4” in FIG. 10D was the wild-type PDL-1 fusion molecule. The increase or decrease in the lysis rate in the figure was relative to the “PBMC+MDA-MB-231+1G4+PDL1-h1gG” histogram. The specific calculation was |(“PBMC+MDA-MB-231+1G4+High affinity PDL1-h1gG4 molecule”−“PBMC+MDA-MB-231+1G4+PDL1-h1gG4 molecule”)|/“PBMC+MDA-MB-231+1G4+PDL1-h1gG4 molecule”. This result showed that part of the high-affinity PDL-1 fusion molecule of the present invention significantly enhanced the killing effect of PBMC on tumor cell MDA-MB-231.

The experimental results were shown in FIGS. 10A, 10B, 10C and 10D. The results show that the high affinity PDL1-hIgG4Fc fusion protein of the present invention can significantly increase ImmTAC (1G4)-mediated killing of tumor cells by PBMC.

All literatures mentioned in the present application are incorporated by reference herein, as though individually incorporated by reference. Additionally, it should be understood that after reading the above teaching, many variations and modifications may be made by the skilled in the art, and these equivalents also fall within the scope as defined by the appended claims. 

What we claim:
 1. A Programmed Death Ligand-1 (PDL-1) molecule comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 5-34, wherein the affinity of the PDL-1 molecule to a PD-1 molecule is at least two-fold of the affinity of SEQ ID NO: 1 to the PD-1 molecule.
 2. A fusion protein comprising the PDL-1 molecule of claim 1 and hIgG4Fc.
 3. A multivalent PDL-1 complex, which comprises at least two PDL-1 molecules, wherein: (1) at least one of the at least two PDL-1 molecules of the multivalent PDL-1 complex is the PDL-1 molecule of claim 1; or (2) the multivalent PDL-1 complex comprises the fusion protein of claim
 2. 4. The multivalent PDL-1 complex of claim 3, which is a bivalent PDL-1 complex, a trivalent PDL-1 complex, or a tetravalent PDL-1 complex.
 5. A nucleic acid molecule which comprises a nucleic acid sequence or a complementary sequence thereof encoding the PDL-1 molecule of claim 1 the fusion protein of claim 2, or the multivalent PDL-1 complex of claim
 3. 6. A pharmaceutical composition, which comprises a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier and: the PDL-1 molecule of claim 1, (2) the fusion protein of claim 2, or (3) the multivalent PDL-1 complex of claim
 3. 7. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 6, which further comprises immune mobilizing monoclonal T-cell receptors against cancer (ImmTAC) and/or high-affinity T-cell activation core (HATac).
 8. A method of treating a tumor expressing a PD-1 molecule in a subject in need thereof, which comprises: administering to the subject a suitable amount of the PDL-1 molecule of claim 1, the fusion protein of claim 2, or the multivalent PDL-1 complex of claim
 3. 